The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here.
1. Review: Apple’s new iPad mini continues to be mini
Matthew Panzarino tried out Apple’s new tablet with Apple Pencil support, and he says the experience is “aces.”
His only caveat: After using the brilliant new Pencil, the old one feels greasy and slippery by comparison, and lacks the flat edge against ... Tags: Apple, Google, Ipad, Hardware, Microsoft, Tech, Ipad Mini, Airbnb, Moviepass, Matthew Panzarino, Apple Pencil, Brooks, Koby, Guesty, Daily Crunch, Amify

When I was younger, I was taught that the ridges and patterns found on my fingertips are so unique, that no other person in the world has them. I can only assume you were also told that your fingertips are unique too — and not in a millennial sort of unique where everyone is so unique that they deserve a participation medal — actually unique. And it’s true. As I grew older, however, things got a little darker. Unique fingertips also meant that if someone got a hold of them, they could potentiall... Tags: Apple, Google, Startups, Politics, Tech, Syndication

Amazon.com has been beta testing its in-house made ads on Apple's iOS platform for several months, Bloomberg reported Thursday, in a move that is described as ecommerce giant's growing efforts to grab a chunk of the $129 billion digital advertising market that is currently dominated by Google and Facebook. Bloomberg's report added that Amazon plans to introduce a similar ad product on Google's Android platform later this year. From the report: Amazon has emerged as a fast-growing challenger in t... Tags: Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Tech, Bloomberg, US Amazon, Facebook Bloomberg

This is an excerpt from a story delivered exclusively to Business Insider Intelligence IoT Briefing subscribers. To receive the full story plus other insights each morning, click here.
San Diego-based technology company and semiconductor designer Qualcomm announced a set of new system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs as well as a dedicated smart speaker platform on which companies can base AI-enabled audio devices.
The announcement comes at an opportune time: More and more companies are buil... Tags: Google, Amazon, US, Trends, San Diego, Qualcomm, Alexa Google, QCOM

WhatsApp is a great way to stay in touch with your loved ones, but you don’t want to lose all the conversations when you change phones. It’s super easy to back up your messages right from WhatsApp. Here’s the skinny.
Start by opening WhatsApp, and then tap the three-dot menu in the upper-right.
Tap “Settings.”
Select “Chats.”
Tap “Chat backup.”
Read the remaining 21 paragraphs Tags: Google, Crafts

A Florida man did something ill-advised the day you were born, so here is the Florida Man challenge. Entering your birthday and the term “Florida man” into Google to see the headlines a Floridian gentleman made has been keeping people in stitches on Twitter. In fairness to the Sunshine State, citizens of the world everywhere… Tags: Google, Florida, News, Uncategorized, Viral, Sunshine State, Onetime

Now you can harmonize like Johann Sebastian Bach thanks to Google’s first ever AI-driven Doodle. To celebrate the German composer’s March 21, 1685 birthday, Doodle lets users compose a melody in Bach’s style. The interactive Doodle is the product of collaboration between Google’s Magenta – which helps people make their own music and art through… Tags: Google, Photography, Music, News, Uncategorized, Doodle, Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach, Onetime

When you make a new Google account, you get access to a free Gmail account along with other services like Google Photos, Google Docs, and a Google Drive with 15 GB of online storage.
A Google account also helps other common Google services – like Google Maps and YouTube – remember you and retain your favorite settings and preferences.
It only takes a few minutes to create a Google account. All you'll need to complete the form is a phone number for verification.
A Google account is sort of ... Tags: Google, Youtube, Trends, Google Docs, Microsoft Office, Google Maps, Google Photos Google Docs, Google Account Home You, Step Verification

Sling TV and DirecTV Now are taking opposite approaches to OTT growth.
DirecT V Now increased its prices, which could cause it to lose half its sub scribers this year, while Sling is ratcheting up promotions to attract new customers.
The differences in approach reveal the fundamental differences between the two companies and the future of live digital TV.
After competing head to head for years, Sling TV and DirecTV Now, the two biggest digital live TV services by subscribers are taking opposi... Tags: Google, Hbo, Abc, Youtube, US, Trends, Comcast, Sony, Cbs, Hulu, Viacom, Macquarie, AT T, Frost Sullivan, Alan Wolk, DirecTV

A number of ad-tech companies are rolling out new measurement products they say can help marketers see if their OTT ads led to a sale.
These companies pull data from smart TV manufacturers and cable boxes, then match it with third-party stats to determine if someone purchased a product or went to a store after seeing TV ads.
Marketers' challenge is finding enough scale to measure the growing number of OTT platforms and streaming services. Vizio-owned Inscape is one of the largest sources of sm... Tags: Google, US, Trends, Vizio, Samba TV, Emarketer, SVP, Cramer Krasselt, Wexler, Giacosa, Alphonso, Lisa Giacosa, Inscape, Chris Wexler, Samba TV Alphonso

From Extra Crunch
A lot of subscribers got to hear from TechCrunch hardware guru Brian Heater, who has been meeting with (too many) robotics companies as we prepare for TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics. If you weren’t able to join us, a transcript will be available in the next 48 hours.
We have Lucas Matney and Eric Peckham on the horn this Friday at noon PDT to talk about all things Game Developers Conference (GDC). Be sure to check your emails for details.
Wide Angle
zssp via Getty Images ... Tags: Google, China, India, Tech, Airbnb, Travis Kalanick, Lucas Matney, Brian Heater, Eric Peckham, The Extra Crunch Daily, Getty Images Stories

The Google Podcasts app is no longer entirely necessary to listen to the podcasts it offers. With a simple tweak of the sharing URL, you can listen to a Google Podcasts podcast on your desktop or laptop without the app.
The post You can now listen to Google Podcasts on your desktop without the app appeared first on Digital Trends. Tags: Google, Mobile, Podcasts, Trends, Web, App

Posted by KameronJenkins“Prove it” is pretty much the name of the game at this point.
As SEOs, we invest so much effort into finding opportunities for our clients, executing strategies, and on the best days, getting the results we set out to achieve.
That’s why it feels so deflating (not to mention mind-boggling) when, after all those increases in rankings, traffic, and conversions our work produced, our clients still aren’t satisfied.
Where’s the disconnect?
The value of SEO in today’s sea... Tags: Google, Time, Seo, Google Analytics, Cpc, Google Search Console, Multi Channel Funnels, KameronJenkins

We reported yesterday that you can now delete an XML Sitemap in the new Google Search Console. Well, it is a bit more than that. Google said on Twitter you can also open the sitemap content in a new tab, review granular details for sitemaps with errors and present RSS and Atom feed sitemaps. Tags: Google, Seo, Google Search Engine Optimization, Google Search Console Well

Looks like Google is trying out the expandable featured snippets in the knowledge panel location. Mordy Oberstein spotted this and posted on Twitter videos and screen shots of it. I can replicate it. Tags: Google, Seo, Google Search Engine, Mordy Oberstein

Google Ads the other day introduced a new feature in their console to suggest to you the columns they think are important for you to see in your dashboard. Google calls this "recommended columns." Tags: Google, Seo, Google Adwords

Google has released another video around JavaScript and SEO, this one on how to do testing and debugging to make sure your JavaScript web site is performing well in search. He goes through using the mobile friendly test, Search Console and Lighthouse as some ways to do this. Tags: Google, Seo, Google Search Engine Optimization

Yesterday during the webmaster hangout, I noticed that the documentation on "Indicating paginated content to Google" that talks about rel=next/prev is now gone, 404ing. Also, the blog post about it from 2011 in bold reads at the top "Note: The information in this post is outdated. Rel=prev/next is not an indexing signal anymore." Tags: Google, Seo, Google Search Engine Optimization, Indexing Signal Anymore

I'll be honest, I didn't notice this happening when the video was live. But as you can see, John Mueller is doing one of his webmaster hangouts in an open cafe at Google and at the 8:45 mark into the video, Gary Illyes sneaks in and then video bombs John. Tags: Google, Seo, Other Google Topics, Gary Illyes, John Mueller

On episode 91 of Digital Trends Live, hosts Greg Nibler and Parker Hall broke down the biggest news stories form the world of tech. On the docket this time: Google unveils its new games streaming service, Trek is building a better bike helmet, and more.
The post Digital Trends Live: Google’s game service, a better bike helmet, and more appeared first on Digital Trends. Tags: Google, Trends, Greg Nibler, Parker Hall

The dos and dont's of audiences for Google Ads have changed. Here's what you need to know.The post 8 Dos & Don’ts of Search Audiences by @dangilbertppc appeared first on Search Engine Journal. Tags: Google, Seo, Paid Search